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The reading list…

Right now, I’m reading My Paper Chase by Harold Evans, who was the former editor of pretty much every newspaper in England and New York City. It’s amazing… quite a ride. He’s basically had a hand in every major story in England over a fifty year period. He’s fairly self-congratulatory about it, but it makes for an amazing read. Plus, I would be pretty fucking big on myself too if I had his resume.

Next: Life as Politics: How ordinary people change the Middle East by Asef Bayat, one of the first books to realize that all poor people in the Middle East aren’t frothing-at-the-mouth terrorists. They’re just regular people and they hate suicide bombers too.

Next: The Beautiful Struggle by none other than my living writing hero Ta-nehisi Coates. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to read this. If it’s even half as subtle, beautiful and resoundingly smart as his blog, I’ll be blown away.

Next: I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay by John Lanchester. Apparently this is the book equivalent of the This American Life episode The Giant Pool of Money, which, if you haven’t listened to, you absolutely MUST MUST MUST!!! It explains the economic crisis in a way that A) you can understand and B) doesn’t bore you to death and C) actually entertains and evokes an emotional response in a much more subtle way than BAH A MILLION PEOPLE ARE GOING TO LOSE THEIR HOUSES BAH!!!!!!

Oh my god, everybody. They’re all nonfiction books. And not a chick memoir among them (I’m looking at you, Elizabeth Gilbert and your half-assed follow up to the cash cow known as Eat Pray Love. Fucking phoned it in, no doubt).